Evolve goes free-to-play

[Bouzoo]

 

Interestingly, I haven't seen this posted. 

Evolve, the asymmetric shooter that was released in 2015., is free-to-play as of today. After the option to buy the game was removed from Steam, people speculated it will go this route and they were right. 

According to the devs, the game had a really bad reception, partly due to DLC shitstorm, as the devs call it, and obviously one part due to game being quite repetitive so most players just stopped playing it. Now they want to bring the magic back and are sure they can do it:

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"When Evolve launched, the reception wasn't what we expected," the pair said in the joint statement. "Sure, there were some good reviews. There were also bad reviews. Yes, there was excitement. There was also disappointment - for players and for us. The DLC s***storm hit full force and washed away people's enthusiasm, dragging us further and further from that first magical pick-up-and-play experience.

"We want that magic back and we aim to make it happen".

 

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In early 2015, the game rode strong pre-release hype and decent initial reviews to a healthy peak of over 27,000 simultaneous players just after launch, according to data from SteamCharts.

Since launch, though, the game has seen a long and steady decline in popularity. Today, on average, only 100 people are playing via Steam at any point. For context, a shooter likeLeft 4 Dead 2 still averages over 10,000 simultaneous players years after its release.

In case you missed the game, the idea of the game was to take 5 players, and put 4 of them against the 5th player. 4 players had the ability to choose 1 of 4 classes, while the 5th player was one of selectable monsters that could Evolve in the match. It was either kill or be killed. 

 

They plan to do bring back the magic with few changes they seem are needed:

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So, Evolve's overhaul involves reworking much of the game. Here's an overview from Turtle Rock:

• We're reworking the hunter classes to make the team less reliant on having experienced trappers and medics.
• We're making improvements to the maps and UI.
• We're improving load times, overall performance, and getting you into the game faster.
• We're focusing on improving stability and fixing bugs.
• We're completely reworking our progression system and tutorials.
• We're adding more customization options.

With that much work, you might say it will be a different game.

 

For now, the game will only be on PC in beta (again), and after it will come on consoles, and all DLC will be unlockable for free. They think that is the best way to make Evolve free-to-play.

In case you bought the game, don't worry, they haven't forgotten you.

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All those who purchased the game will be granted Founder status, keep all purchased add-on content and be honoured with “gifts, rewards, and special access” for as long as the shooter is in active development.

 

I tried the game in beta and wasn't blown away, I was more hyped for it before I have actually tried it. I have no intention of picking it up, but I'm sure many will. Are you on of them? Do you think the game is evolving or devolving? 

 

Sources: 1, 2, 3 

Official site

[Misanthrope]

You know those stages of grief? We need to do stages of failed online games. Going F2P should be a phase before the final acceptance when they just go offline.

[crysilis]

5 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

You know those stages of grief? We need to do stages of failed online games. Going F2P should be a phase before the final acceptance when they just go offline.

lol so true

[syoumans54]

Game was DOA for me.... I lost interest when I saw all the DLC expenses that they tried to capitalize on.... I'm big on owning complete games, I don't feel like paying full price for half a game.

[laminutederire]

What's their new business model exactly?

[79wjd]

6 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

What's their new business model exactly?

Hats, hats, and more hats. 

[Dabombinable]

People who bought the game should have all DLC awarded.

[Kirrr]

I literally said that, when it was released first. This game will die as a F2P title after one year or maybe even less. It was DOA as it went sale.

[AlexGoesHigh]

58 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

People who bought the game should have all DLC awarded.

they sort of are, its in the OP, you keep everything you owned, if you only have the base game, you have the base game content unlocked, same applies if you own a piece of dlc.

 

i'm downloading to see if its not grindy since they have some decency to allow all the content to be purchased with the in game currency.

[Nup]

Better this then them re-skinning it and charging full price again. 

Never played it but always liked the idea and the theme was cool too. Glad they learned their lesson, although it's too late really...

[SteveGrabowski0]

Wow is the game that shitty?

[GreezyJeezy]

lol i had a buddy that played it all day long for like 5 months 

[Megazero]

1 hour ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Wow is the game that shitty?

The game idea is fun, and when you get to it there can be some really intense moment. But... the way they design it fail really hard LOL. Since the "monster" is absolute shit during stage 1 and 2, There's no meaning in fighting against the player so... they did the only logical thing of running away for like 10 mins to try to kill the NPC monster, eat them and evolve. That lead to the 4 hunters also cant do anything but trying to trace and follow the monster. So you spend like 10+ mins playing hide and seek and if the monster happen to evolved to stage 3 then you are fucked. (that was my experience with the game during the open beta)

[zMeul]

5 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

You know those stages of grief? We need to do stages of failed online games. Going F2P should be a phase before the final acceptance when they just go offline.

I've played a match of the F2P version .. just as shitty as it was before

I'd rather play Paragon

[deVIZtation]

Didn't this game come out early last year or something? It took them that long to go F2P?

[Guest Kloaked]

6 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

You know those stages of grief? We need to do stages of failed online games. Going F2P should be a phase before the final acceptance when they just go offline.

Well they are at "Stage 2".

 

 

[totjup5]

Probably should have been at launch.... Game is terrible.

[sqwidee]

Biggest problem with this game (now that buying it is a non-issue) is that moving around the map isn't even fun. The controls suck. All you have is a shitty jetpack that's slow af and ground speed that's slow af and a climb speed that's slow af. The map is huge but there's no tactical design to any of it. It's just meant for a really tedious game of tag with no real player interaction with the board.

 

They could have made cool elements like player-placed sensors or fences or turrets but the game has no "setup" feeling to it. It all boils down to mindlessly chasing and flanking with no way to play a strategy where actual trapping and setup plays a key role. The dome is just "I caught up to it, let's dps it." It's not at all tactical.